HOWTO: Wireless Security - WPA1, WPA2, LEAP, etc.

[wieman01]

well .. my card (Alfa Awus036H) has a Realtek chipset ... rtl8187

Tough luck. I don't think it supports WPA at all... WEP is ok, isn't it?

[Tex-Twil]

Tough luck. I don't think it supports WPA at all... WEP is ok, isn't it?

Yep, WEP is ok. But as I said in a previous post, according to the readme file of the drivers, WPA should be supported. Strange.

[wieman01]

Yep, WEP is ok. But as I said in a previous post, according to the readme file of the drivers, WPA should be supported. Strange.

This might call for "ndiswrapper" perhaps. I could not find anything relating to Reaktek & WPA on Google either.

[mart78]

hello everyone ;)

like most other people in this thread i need some help and advice with my wlan setup.
i have an ibm x30 with a intersil prism II 2.5 wavelan mini-pci card running gutsy that i want to get running with wpa if possible.
i know that the prism 2.5 doesn't support wpa by itself so i flashed it with new primary and station firmware as i read that many people got these cards to work with wpa after the update.

the update went all good, the card is running find in unsecured wlan s but wpa is still giving me a hard time.

at first i tried with the network manager, then with a wpa_supplicant.conf and finally i found the howto on here, but none of it worked so far.

here is the wlan part of my /etc/network/interfaces

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet static
address 192.168.0.25
gateway 192.168.0.1
dns-nameservers 192.168.0.1
netmask 255.255.255.0
wpa-driver hostap
wpa-ssid OpenWRT
wpa-ap-scan 1
wpa-proto WPA
wpa-pairwise TKIP
wpa-group TKIP
wpa-key-mgmt WPA-PSK
wpa-psk 00csa0d0aw0asd0a9sd09as0 (the scrambled version of my key)

i noticed that iwlist scan reports the Group Cipher to be WEP-40 no matter what i set in my wrt. i saw someone reported this earlier in this thread but i couldn't find any additional info. might this (= gutsy) be the source of my wpa problems?

my main concern is to find out whether there is a chance that i'll succeed getting the prism card to run with wpa or if i'd be better off buying a new one as wlan without wpa is of no use for me. but by now i couldn't even locate the source of my wpa problem so I'd be greatful for any support ....

[wieman01]

hello everyone

like most other people in this thread i need some help and advice with my wlan setup.
i have an ibm x30 with a intersil prism II 2.5 wavelan mini-pci card running gutsy that i want to get running with wpa if possible.
i know that the prism 2.5 doesn't support wpa by itself so i flashed it with new primary and station firmware as i read that many people got these cards to work with wpa after the update.

the update went all good, the card is running find in unsecured wlan s but wpa is still giving me a hard time.

at first i tried with the network manager, then with a wpa_supplicant.conf and finally i found the howto on here, but none of it worked so far.

here is the wlan part of my /etc/network/interfaces

i noticed that iwlist scan reports the Group Cipher to be WEP-40 no matter what i set in my wrt. i saw someone reported this earlier in this thread but i couldn't find any additional info. might this (= gutsy) be the source of my wpa problems?

my main concern is to find out whether there is a chance that i'll succeed getting the prism card to run with wpa or if i'd be better off buying a new one as wlan without wpa is of no use for me. but by now i couldn't even locate the source of my wpa problem so I'd be greatful for any support ....

Hello,

If your card does not recognize your WPA settings as such, there is a pretty good chance that it does not support it. Your interfaces is referred to as "wlan0"... Am I right in that you have installed it using "ndiswrapper"? If so, replacing the most recent Windows driver with the latest one (check the vendor's web site for details) would be a sensible thing to do. As it appears the current driver is flawed. That could be the source of your problems.

Post here if you need further support.

[Marcellus]

Hi -- another stumped newbie here.

With the search I've not succeeded in finding it in the 50+ pages of this topic; If I overlooked it, my sincerest apologies.

I have a practical problem in that wifi is my ONLY connection to the outside world --- I have a 1997 laptop with telephone-port (but no telephone internet in sight) and my wifi is WPA2. So, getting files off the 'net onto the lappy is a struggle.

I've followed the recipe I think -- dhcp because my functioning laptop has that setting --- cat /etc/network/interfaces gives me

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wpa-driver wext
wpa-ssid radiogauguin
wpa-ap-scan 1
wpa-proto RSN
wpa-pairwise CCMP
wpa-group CCMP
wpa-key-mgmt WPA-PSK
wpa-psk 4a37-----deleted-password-in-hex------------e728

But the <restart> just gives failures. Is the problem that

cat /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper
cat: /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper: No such file or directory

possibly? Is it uninstalled? How do I install it (add/remove programmes ---> that seems to only talk about a GUI on top of it or am I wrong?)
Once I know what I'm doing I can go find a WEP or passwordless access point (but I have to ask nicely -- no battery in old laptop, so wardriving not an option outside of its illegality). This takes time, so I want to have a reasonable chance of success before I go.

[wieman01]

Hi -- another stumped newbie here.

With the search I've not succeeded in finding it in the 50+ pages of this topic; If I overlooked it, my sincerest apologies.

I have a practical problem in that wifi is my ONLY connection to the outside world --- I have a 1997 laptop with telephone-port (but no telephone internet in sight) and my wifi is WPA2. So, getting files off the 'net onto the lappy is a struggle.

I've followed the recipe I think -- dhcp because my functioning laptop has that setting --- cat /etc/network/interfaces gives me


But the <restart> just gives failures. Is the problem that

possibly? Is it uninstalled? How do I install it (add/remove programmes ---> that seems to only talk about a GUI on top of it or am I wrong?)
Once I know what I'm doing I can go find a WEP or passwordless access point (but I have to ask nicely -- no battery in old laptop, so wardriving not an option outside of its illegality). This takes time, so I want to have a reasonable chance of success before I go.

"wlan0" may not be the right interface name. "wlan0" is usually used by "ndiswrapper" (if you don't know what it is, ignore the comment), hence I doubt it is the right one.

Please do a scan for me and let me know which interfaces (e.g. eth1) return scan results (i.e. networks around you):

sudo iwlist scan

What wireless adapter have you got?

[ebozzz]

I just wanted to say thank you to the OP. As a first time laptop user and also the first time that I have had wireless as a part of my network configuration, I just knew that I would have to use the info inside this thread. Well, I am happy to say that it wasn't needed! I am posting via my WLAN connection now. No configuration was required but I am glad that this resource was available if needed.

My Setup:

Dell Vostro 1500
Intel 3945a/b/g
Ubuntu Studio 7.10 Gutsy Gibbons
Netgear WNR834B RangeMax NEXT Wireless-N Router
WPA2


eth1 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address:**:**:**:**:**:**
ESSID:"<hidden>"
Protocol:IEEE 802.11bg
Mode:Master
Channel:6
Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
Encryption key: on
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
11 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Quality=96/100 Signal level=-31 dBm Noise level=-31 dBm
IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
Extra: Last beacon: 28ms ago

[houms]

Hi -- another stumped newbie here.

With the search I've not succeeded in finding it in the 50+ pages of this topic; If I overlooked it, my sincerest apologies.

I have a practical problem in that wifi is my ONLY connection to the outside world --- I have a 1997 laptop with telephone-port (but no telephone internet in sight) and my wifi is WPA2. So, getting files off the 'net onto the lappy is a struggle.

I've followed the recipe I think -- dhcp because my functioning laptop has that setting --- cat /etc/network/interfaces gives me


But the <restart> just gives failures. Is the problem that

possibly? Is it uninstalled? How do I install it (add/remove programmes ---> that seems to only talk about a GUI on top of it or am I wrong?)
Once I know what I'm doing I can go find a WEP or passwordless access point (but I have to ask nicely -- no battery in old laptop, so wardriving not an option outside of its illegality). This takes time, so I want to have a reasonable chance of success before I go.

The first thing I notice is that you have dhcp instead of static..... are you trying to set a static ip for your laptop ? Based on my experience your line should look like this
auto wlan0 iface
wlan0 inet static
Also is your router set to broadcast its ssid, if not you should also change ap scan to 2

I would try this for you interface....if its wlan0
auto wlan0 iface
wlan0 inet static
address yourip
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway yourgateway
wireless-essid yourssid
wpa-driver wext
wpa-ssid yourssid
wpa-ap-scan 2
wpa-proto RSN
wpa-pairwise CCMP
wpa-group CCMP
wpa-key-mgmt WPA-PSK
wpa-psk yourhexkeyhere

please post your output for these two commands
ifconfig
iwconfig

Also what kind of wireless card are you using?

[mart78]

Hello,

If your card does not recognize your WPA settings as such, there is a pretty good chance that it does not support it. Your interfaces is referred to as "wlan0"... Am I right in that you have installed it using "ndiswrapper"? If so, replacing the most recent Windows driver with the latest one (check the vendor's web site for details) would be a sensible thing to do. As it appears the current driver is flawed. That could be the source of your problems.

Post here if you need further support.

Hi, I'm not using ndiswrapper as the Prism 2.5 card is supported by the hostap driver and this gives me a wlan0 and a wifi0 interface.
Here's the output of iwlist scan (i omitted the non wlan parts):

wifi0     Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: 00:16:B8:40:D3:C5
                    ESSID:"OpenWrtWLAN"
                    Mode:Master
                    Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
                    Encryption key:on
                    IE: WPA Version 1
                        Group Cipher : WEP-40
                        Pairwise Ciphers (2) : TKIP WEP-40
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK

wlan0     Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: 00:16:B8:40:D3:C5
                    ESSID:"OpenWrtWLAN"
                    Mode:Master
                    Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
                    Encryption key:on
                    IE: WPA Version 1
                        Group Cipher : WEP-40
                        Pairwise Ciphers (2) : TKIP WEP-40
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK

it seems that gutsy still reports the Group Cipher to be always WEP-40 eventhough OpenWRT usually sets the Group Cipher to the same as the configured Pairwise Cipher.

As of now i have read about several other people who got WPA running with the Prism 2.5 Chipset following the instructions on http://linux.junsun.net/intersil-prism/ and i see no reason why it shouldn't work for me besides the wrong Group Cipher mentioned above.
Is there a way I can set the Group Cipher manually or a method how I can track down my problem?